Abstainers vs Moderators

Some very interesting comments on my last post! I guess I didn't realize that others might feel the same way about intuitive eating.

What a couple of weeks! By late November I knew December was going to be really tough. I've had some big deadlines coming up at work, and it just seemed like it was all of them at once! This last weekend was a big meeting that I had to be at work for, and that's what seems to have done me in. I'm pooped! But now I feel like the end is in sight!

Eating wise I did okay - no, I actually did better than that. It wasn't great, but all things considered I made the best choices I could, and that is a triumph! When we have these big meetings at work, there's garbage galore. I didn't eat a single crappy dessert or processed junk. Okay, maybe I didn't make the VERY best choices - if I had I would've brought my own food every day - but I did bring fruit for snacks and stuck to it. And when faced with the food options at work, I actually did really well. Seriously, this is one of those situations with unlimited opportunities to eat crap, and I didn't give in. I'm really happy about that.

So all this in addition to the plethora of crappy food for the holidays. I'm doing pretty well there too. I was reading someone's blog, and they talked about the idea of moderators vs abstainers. Abstainers are those who recognize that something is too much of a temptation for them, so they abstain from it completely. For them, avoiding something entirely is easier than trying to have only a moderate amount. Moderators are those who can have a little bit of something, and it's enough to satisfy them. For them, abstaining from something completely makes it unbearably tempting, so it's better that they just have a little bit to satisfy them. I fall FIRMLY into the abstainers category. I like to think I could be a moderator, but I can't. So in the end I'm happier when I just completely avoid foods I know aren't good for me. So that's what I've been doing with holiday treats. It's working and I'm just going to stick with it.

However, you'd think I'd recognize that this should also apply to alcohol for me. So far it doesn't, but I think it's where I'm headed. It just causes too much trouble with my eating! I'm just not there yet. But I think after the holidays it will be something I'm ready to commit to fully. I know it's lame that I'm not doing it now, but this is my journey, and I get to choose my priorities. So I'll give up sweets, but not my martinis. Not yet.

Anyway, hoping you're all successfully getting through these last few holiday weeks!